Amazing power and clarity.

Matching quality speakers required.

I just read some of the other reviews of this product and wanted to add a few helpful comments. First, I use two units in bridged mode.

I built my own speakers and found that there was significant hum. In my case, this was caused by a less than optimal crossover system that I had skimped on. I redesigned the crossover for 8 ohms and lower efficiency and used the highest quality parts I could find. After all, I had the power to spare.

A better crossover made an amazing difference in the sound quality. The hum was gone and the amps are now crystal clear at all volume levels. The reason I designed and built my own speakers was that I could not find any others that could handle the 1.0t(s) in bridged mode. The bass is astounding and the power is unbelievable from two units weighing only 20 lbs each. From my experience, if you are hearing a buzzing noise or hum, then I would question the quality of your speakers.

Carver could have thrown in a some heavy heat-sinks and beautified the appearance but what is the point. These are functional units that have given me nearly 15 years of flawless service. Overall, I still believe that the 1.0t is the best power amplifier ever made!

Amazing power and clarity.

Matching quality speakers required.

I just read some of the other reviews of this product and wanted to add a few helpful comments. First, I use two units in bridged mode.

I built my own speakers and found that there was significant hum. In my case, this was caused by a less than optimal crossover system that I had skimped on. I redesigned the crossover for 8 ohms and lower efficiency and used the highest quality parts I could find. After all, I had the power to spare.

A better crossover made an amazing difference in the sound quality. The hum was gone and the amps are now crystal clear at all volume levels. The reason I designed and built my own speakers was that I could not find any others that could handle the 1.0t(s) in bridged mode. The bass is astounding and the power is unbelievable from two units weighing only 20 lbs each. From my experience, if you are hearing a buzzing noise or hum, then I would question the quality of your speakers.

Carver could have thrown in a some heavy heat-sinks and beautified the appearance but what is the point. These are functional units that have given me nearly 15 years of flawless service. Overall, I still believe that the 1.0t is the best power amplifier ever made!

Gee, this is my first try, so bear with me, please. I had a hard time deciding whether to call myself an "Audio Enthusiast" or an "Audiophile" because the latter often implies being able to spend more money on sound than I can afford to. I'm also not precisely sure we're talking about the same equipment, but here goes.
I've owned a Carver M 1.0t since 1988 (when Bob Carver was still there) and have enjoyed every second of it. It is reliable and has never shorted out or killed any set of speakers I've had hooked up to it, despite the fact my teenaged son plays rap CDs on it --loudly-- when I'm not home (he probably thinks I don't know this). I've used a Sony receiver and Hafler's DH112 and Nakamichi's C5 preamp with this amp, and bben rewarded with wide soundstaging and good, if not pinpoint imaging. The side to side imaging is better than the front to back, but vocal groups (not chorale music) and some lead instruments do tend to congregate toward the front middle of the soundstage. The voices are separate and distinct, but there is little space between them and the images are not larger than lifelike. I cannot be sure which source produces the imaging and soundstage --whether it is the preamp, the cartridge, the cabling or what, but the highest priced component in my mid-fi system is a pair of used Vandersteen 2Cs. Yes, I've HEARD better, at good audio stores, and at the homes of one of two people I know who've spent far more than I can consider. But my little (10-yr-old) girl says my system "sounds like surround sound at the movies," so something must be right since I'm only using two speakers in my audio room.

Associated equipment:
Analog: Sota Comet and Moonbeam turntables; Denon DP52F turntable; Sumiko BPS, Grado Silver, Audio Technica ML-140 (among other) cartridges.

Electronics: Denon DRM-500 cassette deck; Denon DCD-1500 CD player; Akai 4000 DS reel-to-reel; Radio Shack mixer; BBE Dynamic Expander and Carver C9 Sonic Hologram Generator (rarely used).

PS: All of my equipment except the Carver M 1.0t, the reel-to-reel and the cartridges were pre-owned before visiting my house.

small, rack mountable, pretty face plate, bridgeable

hum in transformer, audio output. if you don't know better it is a powerful amp.

For those people complaining of the pop and crackel at power up and shut down. there is a tech note from carver that outlines a modification to the amp to minimize this noise. I have modified my mt1.0 and it made a large difference. There are several other mods that can and need to be done to fix the bugs in the amp. check with an older carver warranty shop to see if they still have the documentation. I no loger use this amp it sits in the closet doing nothing (2 years) I am glad i recieved this amp for cheap money . I use a yamaha mx-1000u with a cx-800 driving late 70's jbl 4311 studio monitors. The carver sucks wind compared to this setup. The caver spent some of its life driving my sub woofer( severe over kill) the sub is collecting dust also. The fact that I still have the amp means it is not total junk.

I have had the amp for 5 years it has had little use.

Check on the modifications

Similar Products Used:

(bought in 89)mx-1000u amp - cx800 preamp

Lots of power

not lots of definition, particularly at lower listening levels

I've read a number of seemingly contradictory reviews on this amp, some of which I agree with, and some of which I don't.

I bought the M1.0t in 1998, and bought a C-1 preamp at the same time. While I've never been a fan of the preamp, the power amp does have some significant merits.

First, when driving my pair of Boston Acoustics T-1000 speakers (of similar vintage as the amp), it can put out some seriously loud, but clean volume levels. When I first bought the amp, this was perhaps the most common demonstration I'd perform for friends. When cranking, the current draw was sufficient that if the AC supply isn't up to snuff, you'll see visible dimming of the lights on the same circuit during transients. So, a decent AC supply is a must.

For a number of years, the loud, clean amp was exactly what I wanted.

Unfortunately, as my tastes in audio (and volume levels) matured, I began to realize that delivery of a more delicate acoustic passage was something I wanted, and that detail and tonal balance were important as well. When viewed this way, the Carver began to show some weakness. The transformer hum is audible both from the amp and from the speakers, and the tonal balance at lower listening levels isn't as good as it could be.

This amp is kind of like a '60's big block musclecar: it's loud, kind of brash and doesn't pretend to be sophisticated. On the highway or dragstrip, it's pretty impressive, but idling around town it can be too loud, too rough, and a little uncomfortable.

If your taste in music is for high volume levels - particularly for rock - this may be just the amp for you. If, instead, you'd like the versatility to listen to the the occasional folk, acoustic jazz or light classical piece, then you may want something a little more refined.

Oh, if your tastes run towards listening to explosions in a HT set-up, then this amp may be right up your alley. If you can find one on the used market, it may offer as much 'bang for the buck' as you're going to find anywhere.

I was happy with the amp while I had it, but now I'm ready for something with a little more sophistication.

I'd actually give the amp 3.5 stars, but chose 3 instead because I think too many people have overrated the amp.

Well, after reading these reviews, I am utterly amazed by the differences of opinion. You would think two different products were being reviewed. In short, the M1.0t running mono-bridged, (Read:1000 Watts RMS, 20-20k, 8 Ohms .15 THD) driving an efficient loudspeaker is nothing short of astounding. Talk about headroom.... My lord. I own a pair of 1.0ts, driving a set of Klipsch Courus IIs. Controlling these are either a Carver 895 or Yamaha DSP-A1000 depending on whether I want to be AT the concert with Sonic Holography or directly at the epicenter of an earthquake in home theater mode. I'm talking 110 db of sound out of one pair of speakers and the meters on the 1.0ts don't even blink off idle. I measured continuous 126 db (The max on my realistic sound pressure meter) and wasn't even close to the peak LED. By the way, for those of you that are digusted by horns, you haven't heard a pair of Courus IIs set up properly with 1000 watts of clean carver power driving each one. I am not even going to comment on the lack of bass comments as they are just a joke. Any comments of questions..email me

I owned the Carver 1.0t for about 6 months, and I really wasn't at all happy with it. The bass was very thin and slappy. It really lacked warmth. The highs were very harsh and the midrange was too pronounced. I compared it to a NAD 2200 100 watt amp, and the NAD outperformed it in every department by a wide margin.

Good clean power with room to spare. Attractive design. Great value

Pop at shutdown. Poor AC cords.

I have two amps in dual mono mode and I must say that their power is unbeatable. Bridged, these M1.0ts are a small nuclear powerplant. The bass is deep and powerful at all volume levels and I'm using KEF C-75 apartment style speakers. My speakers are small towers and still these amps produce a forceful bass. The mids and highs are great and my basic NAD preamp's tone controls are flat with no loudness button on. When you have these amps or any in a bridged mono mode, a respected dealer where I live suggested a tube preamp to run them or at least a tube ransistor hybrid. I myself have taken these amps to a stereo repair shop only to install in each a very heavy 14 guage 300V 3prong power cord. Your bass will be smoother at higher power levels. I'm also using MIT speaker cables with network boxes to smoothen the sound which does work. Whenever you use amps in a dual mono mode, please use cables with network boxes. This includes speaker cables, CD interconnect, and amp to preamp interconnect.

Thank you for reading my review. Happy listening

George

Similar Products Used:

Carver M-500t. Carver Receivers. Rotel amps.

More Current,voltage and tonal refinement at it's price point than anything before or since. Period.

Not many, but there are three that are unequivocally true: a VERY soft transformer(physical, not audio) hum and a slight buzz at the output, probably from the Mag/Field transformer also, but NO HUM!) and third,insuffienctly heat sinked for constant bridged mono operation into sadistic (16hz/1ohm/full output/@FIVE HOURS)speaker loads.

The controversy boils down to two things in my opinion.
First, there is the fiscally endowed contingent that bought into the editorial backpedaling of a certain magazine(s)when said magazine(s) had their journalistic integrity taken out on the dance floor for the (a la Deliverance) Ned Beatty two-step by certain outraged tube amp mfrs. threatening to pull their (FUTURE) advertising revenue after publishing a refreshingly honest review(of the M1.0T) without concern (initially at least)to reaction. (What a sad irony, when it was exactly that sort of thing that started the underground audio press to begin with!) Secondly, Most of the enthusiasts who write in are correctly describing say, 85% of all circumstances with which this amp is going to be used: Medium/High efficiency speakers. If you have low sensitivity or low efficiency (not the same thing) speakers and you run these amps in mono they will get as hot as your proverbial "two dollar pistol on a saturday night". They will sound absolutely fabulous until the thermal protection shuts 'em down. My solution in '86 was to send 'em back to Carver and was assured that they would be optimized for mono operation even if it required Bob's personal attention. (Now I'd suggest Everette Audio in WA. State-Call information for the #)
They came back sounding great, ran LESS (but still)hot and I
have never had a Power-up (or down) transient out of either of em. EVER. I tried tri-amping them and let a third amp (380/CH. 8ohms) handle from 63Hz down (home built Hsu inspired stereo 15" subs)and the Carver Plats (Low efficiency but decent sensitivity) handle every thing else upward and they run the BEJEEZUS out of them. NE Plus Ultra. I've owned other stuff. Sold it. Bought a house with the cash. Life is good. Ran in stereo these amps are bullet proof. Lots of bass in mono or stereo but the amp's current delivery capablilities outstrip it's heat dissapation capabilities when ran in mono. No more. No less. Be sensible and these amps will love you. Great service for fourteen years and counting. I've owned the other stuff and there are better amps (from Carver and Sunfire to state the obvious) as well as others (see above) but these babies deliver a huge percentage (again especially in stereo)of what THEY deliver at a FRACTION of the price. If you have to have a TOTALLY silent room either put 'em in a closet and run some longer cable or don't buy 'em. If you can actually HEAR those transformer artifacts then either your listening room is a closet or your house is in the middle of Wyoming and your neighbor rancher friends have killed all the crickets. Your environment VERY probably screws with your acoustic S/N more than these amps do. Now, let's listen to some music. Anybody got any Maurice Andre or late fifies Maynard?

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Krell, Boulder, Mac,IOW: oodles of the deadweight metric tonnage champeeens of all time.

While working at a local hi-end audio retailer someone came in with a Carver amp 200w/ch to A-B with some others and to tell you the truth EVERY amp in the store down to a 60w/ch Rotel amp ate it and spit it out in every catagory.Whant music look elsewhere!